Blade dispenser



July 26, 1960 Filed Dec. 2, 1957 W. l. NISSEN BLADE DISPENSER 5Sheets-Sheei 1 IN VEN TOR.

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BLADE DISPENSER Filed Dec. 2, 1957 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVE TOR.

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BLADE DISPENSER Filed Dec. 2. 1957 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR.

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BLADE DISPENSER Warren I. Nissen, Topsiield, Mass, assignor to TheGillatte Company, Boston, Mass, a corporation of Delaware Filed Dec. 2,1957, Ser. No. $9,987

7 Claims. (61]..206-16) This invention comprises a new and improveddispenser for sharp edged blades such as safety razor blades, and in oneaspect contemplates improvements in dispensers of the type disclosed inUnited States Letters Patent No. 2,722,308, November 1, 1955; that is tosay, a dispenser constructed at least in part of resinous plasticmaterial and in part of sheet metal. Such plastic materials have theadvantage of being light in weight, moisture and corrosion proof, and oflow manufacturing cost. They are, however, under some conditions subjectto deformation by cold flow of the plastic material when subjected tocontinuous stress, as for example the pressure exerted by a springlocated within the dispenser for positioning the blade stack. Thisweakness is obviated in dispensers of the type now under considerationby providing a self-contained metallic system effective to exertcontinuous yielding pressure on the blade stack entirely independentlyof the plastic portions of the dispenser.

In dispensers of this type it has been found necessary heretofore toemploy as separate elements a blade-supporting plate whose function isto support the blade stack always in a flat condition and insure thatthe blades remain in that condition as the stack is drawn down to as fewas two or three blades, and a bowed spring arranged to urge the plateand blade stack toward the discharge position.

An important feature of the present invention is the employment of ablade-supporting plate of spring metal constructed and arranged to carryout as a single element the functions of the two elements abovedescribed, and also to serve as an element of the desired self-containedmetallic system exerting yielding pressure on the blade stackindependently of its plastic elements. To this end an important featureof the invention comprises a spring blade-supporting member having acentral flat portion merging at both sides into angular side wallswhich, in turn, merge into outwardly extending flanges for securing thesupporting member in place within the dispenser.

Other features of the invention comprise mechanical details of structurefacilitating the employment of this combined blade-supporting andpositioning member and other wise contributing to the sturdy andreliable organi- Zation of the dispenser as a whole and its manufactureby methods of mass production.

These and other features of the invention will be best understood andappreciated from the following description of a preferred embodimentthereof selected for purposes of illustration and shown in theaccompanying drawings in which:

Fig. l is a view in perspective showing the elements of the dispenser inexploded relation and on an enlarged scale,

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the plastic body portion of the dispenser,

Fig. 3 is a similar view showing the spring blade-supporting member inplace,

Fig. 4 is a similar view with the blades added,

Fig. 5 is a simi.ar view with the metal cover added,

plate biased and connected to the metal cover of the dispenser,

Fig. 8 is a bottom plan view of the dispenser showing the metal cover inunattached position,

Fig. 9 is a similar view showing the metal cover fully attached, and

- Fig. 10 is a view in cross-section on the line 10-1 0 of Fig. 9. r

In its illustrated form the the dispenser comprises three elements inaddition to the blade stack which it contains. These, as shown in Fig.1, include a body molded of plastic resin, a spring blade-supporting andpositioning plate, and a cover also of sheet metal.

The plastic body comprises a flat bottom it) substantially rectangularin contour and having upright side walls 11 and 12, both of which areinterrupted so as to form a wide notch or recess symmetrically locatedin the walls at opposite sides of the body and spanned by a con nectingrib 13. The lower edges of the wall sections are provided with adownwardly opening groove for the reception of flanges on the side wallsof the cover as will presently appear. The bottom It terminates at eachend in a semi-circular recess or opening 14 while the side walls 11 and12 extend beyond these recesses and are connected by low transverse endWalls 15 and 16. From the end walls flat tables 17 and 18 extendinwardly and from these tables extend upstanding studs 19 and 20 whichserve to locate the blades transversely in the dispenser. The tables i7and 13 are located substantially above the level of the bottom it) andserve initiallyto hold the supporting blade which underlies the bladestack.

Each end wall 15 and 16 merges into an upwardly curved bottom sectionshaped to supply at one end the lower edge 21 of a blade exit openingand at the other end to provide the lower edge 22 or" a correspondingexit opening. These bottom sections extend transversely between the sidewalls 11 and 12 and are provided at each end with a projectingcover-supporting lug 23-24 which is located slightly below the top edgeof the side wall. Both of the side walls are provided at each of theirends with external pads 25 providing shoulders against the inner edgesof which the ends of the cover are to be fitted and which also supply apleasing finish to the dispenser as a whole.

The bottom It? is also provided with a pair of spaced parallel slots 26located symmetrically and serving to admit the arms of a spring flexingtool as will be presently described.

The spring-supporting plate or platform is rectangular in outline andincludes a fiat central portion 30 having a slot 31 at each end toreceive the studs 19-20 of the base and merging at each edge into anangular wall 32 a section 33. This, in turn, merges into a hooked flange34 located symmetrically and of a length to fit with clearance in thenotches or recesses of the side walls 11 and 12 of the plastic base. Theplatform portion 39 is stiffened by these angular sidewalls and remainsalways in fiat condition beneath the blade stack whereas the side wallsare sprung from the position shown in Fig, 6 to that shown in Fig. 7when the supporting plate is forced into its assembled position andattached to the metal cover of the dispenser. In this operation theplate as a whole is biased so as to urge the blade stack continuallyupwardly away from the bottom 10 and toward the finger opening 41. p

It will be seen that the blade-supporting member in order to perform itstwo functions includes the per assess-1..

manently flat platform section 30 stiflened by the longitudinal angularwalls 32 into which it merges and the resilient marginal portions formedby the wall sections 32- and 33 which are deflected when this member isassembled in'the dispenser so that the member as a whole acts as a bowedspring to maintain the uppermost blade- 28 of the blade stack in'contactwith the metal cover of the' dispenser and in line with its exitopenings.

The blades 28 for which the dispenser is designed are:

of well. known commercial type provided with a longitudinal median slotof such width as to receive with clearance the studs 19 and-.20.Thedispenser is loaded by placing the blades 28 in staggered relationlocated longitudinally by the studs 19. and 20aas-shown in Fig. 4.At'this stage the blade stack rests upon the platform portion 30 of'thebladessupporting memberand that, in turn, is supported by thetables Hand18 at a level above the bottom 10.

The metallic cover 40' of the dispenser is preferably constructed-ofthin sheet metal. It is generally rectangu lar in contour and providedwith a centrally located finger opening 41. It is folded at both ends 42thus providing stiff rounded'edges defining the exit openings of thedispenser in cooperation with the edges 21 and 22 of the base. The coverhas downturned side walls 43 merging at their lower edges into inturnedflanges 44. The side walls 43- are of such length as to fit over theside walls 11 and 12 of the base and abut the end pads 25. The inturnedflanges 44 are rolledor hooked to engage beneath the ribs13 as alreadystated and at the end of each flangeis formed an articulate ear 45.

Before the'cover 49 is assembled in completing the dispenser the springplatform member is placed under resilient stress in the manner shown inFigs. 6 and 7 with theassistance of a forked tool 36 having arms shapedto pass freely through the slots 26 in the bottom It Having assembledthe various parts as indicated in Figs. 2 to 5, they areinverted as'shown in Fig. 6. In this position the blade stack is engaged betweenaninturned flange defining-the finger opening 41 and the platform 30which now lies beneath the tables 17 and 18. The flanges 34 of the bladesupporting member extend upwardly at either edge of the bottom 10. Nowwhen the tool 36'is forcibly depressed these flanges and the resilientWall sections 32 and 33 are forced downwardly as indicated in Fig. 7until the flanges 34 snap under the inturned hooked flanges 44 of thecover. The blade-supporting platform is thus incorporated understress'in an all metal system in which the platform 30 is always urgedupwardly away from thetables 17 and 18 and towardthe finger opening 41-.

In the assembling operation the side walls 43 of the metal cover arestraddled over the baseas suggested in Fig. 8 and then pressed'inwardlyto engage beneath the ribs 13. When this is done the ears 45 are bentinto engagement with correspondingly formed portionsof the ribs 13 assuggested in Fig. 9.

Having thus disclosed rnyinvention and described in detail one examplethereof, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent;

1. A'blade dispenser comprising a plastic body and a to bias said flatportion to urge the blade'stack toward the finger opening of the cover.

2. In a blade dispenser, a spring blade-supporting and blade-biasingplatform having a central fiat portion merging at both sides intoangular side walls which in turn 'merge into outwardly and downwardlyextending hooked resilient flanges for securing the supporting platformin place within the dispenser.

3. In a blade dispenser, a blade-supporting and blade biasing member ofspring metal having a permanently flat portion merging at both sidesinto down-turned side walls and those walls merging in turn intoresilient outwardly and downwardly extending sections having marginalflanges of less length than the adjacent sections of the supportingmember.

4. A blade dispenser comprising a plastic body and a metal coverincludingmeans connecting them together, said body and said cover beingshaped to form together an elongated enclosure having exit opening atits ends, the plastic body having a flat bottom and tables at each endat a fixed distance above the bottom, in combination with a blade stackand a blade supporting-member of spring metal having a flat centralportion initially resting at its ends upon said tables and having sideflanges, said metal cover including means in engagement with saidflanges in such a manner as to bias the central portion of theblade-supporting member away from said tables.

5. Ablade dispenser comprising a plastic body and a metal cover, saidbody and said cover being shaped to form together a rectangularenclosure having an end exit, the plastic body having a bottom andspaced side wall sections connected by longitudinal ribs and the coverhaving side walls and flanges inturned and reversely bent and engagedbeneath said ribs to provide a supporting abutment.

6. A blade dispenser as defined in claim 5 in which the side walls ofthe cover have at each" end an articulated ear bent over a correspondingportion of the plastic body.

7. In a blade dispenser, a cover, a blade-supporting member of springsheet metal having a permanently flat rectangular platform merging intoangular side portions and a-blade stack on'said blade supporting member,said cover including means engaging said side portions to marginallyhold said portions in a deflected condition of resilient stress biasingthe platform and said blade stack toward said cover of the dispenser.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,722,308 Sinclair Nov. 1, 1955 2,775,366 'Willhelm Dec. 25, 19562,792,933 Butlin May 21, 1957

